Those who maintain that roses will not thrive in southern lands because the mild climate allows them too little rest have never visited the “Cote d’Azur” in southern France.
Varieties grown here are more fragrant, more beautiful in form, and larger in size than when grown in colder climes.
Acres of sun-kissed yellow Mme. A. Meilland, miles of velvety red Happiness, and carmine Tapis Rose thrive out of doors with us. Bathed in sunshine, these beauties have all the light and air they need.
Of course, northern and mountain varieties are not so happy here. Thus, Frau Karl Druscki and Virgo become anemic, losing much of their hardiness and branching habits.
It is true that we sadly lack a free-flowering and disease-resistant white rose that will stand in hot and dry conditions.
Soil and Planting Holes
Ours is a light, sandy soil requiring manure to retain moisture. So, we line the bottom of our planting holes with a generous foot of manure.
For us, only sheep manure will do. Poultry manure is too strong (calling for careful handling), and pig droppings, mixed with sawdust, can be poisonous.
What a pity that silkworms are no longer raised in southern France! Boiled alive to prevent them from piercing and thus spoiling their cocoons, they used to provide all the nitrogen for our roses.
We leave the manure to “weathering” at the bottom of the planting holes for a full month before planting. Then, to feed the surface roots, the holes are filled up with dried blood, meat, nice bits of old offal, bone and horn, and hoof meal bulked up with peat from Sweden.
Fertilizers and Fertilizing Techniques
When the roses bloom about six months after planting and stronger branches are required, each plant is given a little quick-acting fertilizer, usually Chilean nitrate (⅓ to ½ ounce). Plants that are getting along well are not fertilized.
Crude chemicals are never applied alone, only a balanced fertilizer (made of sulfate of ammonia, potash, and phosphoric acid) at the rate of two pounds per square yard. Sickly plants, attacked by chlorosis, are given a pinch of iron sulfate to pep them up.
Pruning and Planting Techniques
Our cultivation methods differ in many ways from those prevailing in colder climes. Because of our mild conditions, we prune in February more lightly.
Amateurs usually remove all the dead wood and cut their rose plants down to 20” inches to obtain exhibition-size blooms.
As Jean Dyens, the “king” of French nurserymen, expresses it in a nutshell, “no stems, no flowers.” To encourage the growth of many flowers, nurserymen retain nearly all the young wood, pruning no lower than 32 inches.
Rose growers also plant their bushes only 12” inches apart, in rows 24 inches apart, so each bush covers a surface area of only 10 square inches. This saves valuable hot-house space, besides cutting down on the number of fertilizers needed and helping to keep weeds in check.
Pests and Disease Control
This close formation does not promote the spreading of infestations and infections. Leaf-scorch, black spot, dieback, red spiders, rose maggots, and leaf-hoppers have no problems with us.
We have nothing more formidable than rust, mildew, “anguillula” and aphids.
Routine spraying of sulfur easily curbs mildew. This is applied in the summer since the heat favors the development of spores. Rust, attacking the undersides of leaves and stems, is kept in check with a fungicide.
“Anguillule” is another minute mushroom harmful to the welfare of young roots. A shell insecticide, injected into the soil, turns gaseous and destroys the spores.
A spray of nicotine kills the aphids. We avoid commercial insecticides with a phosphoric ether basis because they seem to provoke eczema on the stems.
Watering
Weeds are kept down by hoeing twice a month between bushes and rows. Done lightly, this does not disturb the surface roots but does help to retain moisture in the soil.
We give our roses all the water they need (but not a single drop more) in thorough but not too frequent soakings.
Understock and Frost Protection
Rosa Indica is generally used on the Cote d’Azur as a standard understock because it is well adapted to our dry conditions.
Francis Meilland, the world-famous creator of Peace, Happiness, and 88 other splendid rose varieties, buds his roses on Rosa canina understock.
He experiments with a wide assortment of stocks for his novelties, such as a true blue rose and the chocolate-colored one on which he is now working.
Frost, of course, is hardly a problem. Seldom does the temperature fall below 45° degrees Fahrenheit.
Actually, we use hot houses only to obtain year-round production, growing under glass about the same varieties we plant out-of-doors.
We use coal-burning boilers for heat when needed, as they are less expensive and less liable to break down.
44659 by Dr. Maurice Moyal